4.54pm: Major movers: Lynas soared 4 per cent after it said it expects to start processing rare earth minerals from a plant in Malaysia next month, despite opposition from environmentalists over health concerns.

Origin Energy jumped 3.2 per cent, after media reported Royal Dutch Shell might feed its gas into other LNG projects in the area due to rising costs.

"There's some optimism at the moment about the Americans doing something constructive about their fiscal cliff problem," says Damien Boey, equity strategist at Credit Suisse. "People have also been a bit more inspired by the fact that the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) is willing to cut rates into this cycle."

4.35pm: Among the major sectors, materials jumped 1.3 per cent, energy gained 0.9 per cent, while financials added 0.2 per cent.

4.13pm: The sharemarket has closed higher, buoyed by hopes of a compromise in the US budget talks. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 24.3 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 4385.7, while the broader All Ords added 24.9 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 4407.5.

4.04pm: Trans-Tasman corporate raider Sir Ron Brierley has launched his first raiding party since transforming his new venture Mercantile Investment Co into an active investment play, aiming his guns at Murchison Metals and sending a shiver down the collective spines of company directors.

Mercantile Investment Co issued a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange this afternoon announcing it had lodged a requestion for a general meeting of Murchison Metals for the purpose of removing the chairman, Ken Scott-Mackenzie and managing director, Greg Martin.

The raiders will seek to appoint in their place Gabriel Radzyminski, an executive director of Mercantile Investment Co, and Paul Jensen, who will be an independent director.

Murchison shares jumped as much as 5 per cent and were about 2 per cent higher in late trade.

3.33pm: The Australian dollar has managed to hang onto its overnight gains, despite dovish comments by the RBA in its minutes.

In late trade, the dollar was buying $US1.0413, after climbing 0.7 per cent to $US1.0412 overnight.

The currency was supported by news that France lost its top credit grade from Moody’s, spurring speculation Australia's highest-rated debt will draw more investors. Australia is one of the seven sovereign borrowers with a stable AAA rating from all three major credit assessors.

‘‘There’s more money looking at places like Australia because of the secure AAA rating,’’ says NAB global co-head of currency strategy Ray Attrill. ‘‘The next one big figure on the Aussie will probably be determined by whether they do cut rates or don’t cut rates in December."

The majority of the outperformance has come from the mining and energy sectors which were oversold on fiscal cliff concerns and also buoyed by US housing sentiment overnight.

Greek government funding issues and US fiscal cliff concerns have warranted investors remaining underweight equities and risk overall in the past week.

As the risk abates investors reduced their shorts and bid up the market.

3.10pm: Brent crude is holding steady above $US111 a barrel, less than a dollar away from a one-month top hit in the previous session, on hopes a US budget crisis will be averted and on supply worries triggered by tensions in the Middle East.

"The overnight rally in the US equity market is still supporting the oil market with ongoing tensions in the Gaza Strip posing some geopolitical risks," says Natalie Rampono, a commodity strategist at ANZ.

"Even though the violence is not near oil producing nations, the consensus is that it could lead to tensions in the region ... so I'm surprised that prices haven't rallied like they did in the past."

3.01pm: In case you're interested in 'Click Frenzy', the local version of America's online discount shopping extravaganza, here's a list of all the retailers taking part, or offering their own day of discounts.

2.46pm: In a further indication of the continuing effects of the European debt crisis, China says the United States has overtaken the European Union as its biggest export market.

‘‘The biggest is the US and the EU is second,’’ Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said today. ‘‘The EU used to be the biggest.’’ He said Southeast Asia now ranks third and Japan fourth.

2.39pm: The Bank of Japan has kept monetary policy steady after having eased for the second straight month in October, preferring to save its limited options for now as political pressure for bolder monetary expansion heightens ahead of a general election in December.

2.35pm: The ASX200 has just hit the day's high, recovering strongly from that mid-morning lull. The index is up 0.7 per cent, led by gains in the materials sector, up 1.5 per cent.

2.20pm: The New York attorney-general is preparing to file a civil lawsuit against Credit Suisse for misleading investors who lost billions of dollars on mortgage-backed securities, Reuters says quoting an unnamed source familiar with the matter.

The lawsuit, which is expected to be filed on Wednesday, will allege that Credit Suisse misrepresented the quality of loans packaged in securities, according to the source. Investors lost more than $US11.2 billion, the source added.

Last month, a similar lawsuit was filed against JPMorgan Chase over mortgage-backed securities packaged and sold by Bear Stearns, the investment bank JPMorgan bought for $US10 a share in March 2008. That lawsuit claimed that investors lost more than $US22.5 billion on more than 100 securities.

It was the first action to come out of the working group created by President Barack Obama to go after wrongdoing that led to the financial crisis.

2.05pm: Yahoo shares reached their highest level in a year and a half, as investor confidence grows that new chief executive Marissa Mayer can pull off a comeback that eluded three of her predecessors.

The internet pioneer has yet to actually provide Wall Street with any hard evidence that its business is turning a corner - and she has warned that it will be a lengthy job - but investor faith in the ex-Google executive is running high.

Hedge funds Tiger Global Management and Greenlight Capital Management recently disclosed large stakes in Yahoo, accumulated during the third quarter.

"Money managers are staring to want to own this name again," says Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners.

"For the amount of traffic they have, and the assets they have, they should be able to squeeze some value out of that," Gillis says, referring to Yahoo. With Mayer at the helm, he says, Yahoo has "finally got somebody who the market believes can do that."

1.55pm: Here's how the region's markets are doing:

Japan (Nikkei): +0.1%

Hong Kong: +0.9%

Shanghai: flat

Taiwan: +0.4%

Korea: +0.6%

Singapore: +0.5%

New Zealand: +0.5%

1.25pm: It's still the materials sector which is pushing the market higher. That sector is up now 1.28 per cent, with Lynas leading the charge - up 8 per cent for the day - after it flagged an opening of its much-delayed Malaysian plant for December.

Fortescue has continued to rise, now showing a gain of 4.29 per cent. The overall market is about 0.5 per cent higher and close to its intraday peak.

Other sectors doing well include energy (up 0.91%) and consumer discretionary (up 0.75%). Utilities are down 0.4 per cent and telecoms are off 0.12 per cent.

1.21pm: Here's BusinessDay's Eric Johnston with a neat analogy for the Aussie being classified as a reserve currency:

1.16pm: Clancy Yeates reports that the Australian dollar looks set to be classified as an official reserve currency by the International Monetary Fund, in a sign of the dollar's rising importance on global money markets.

With heavy buying by foreign central banks thought to have supported the Aussie dollar in recent months, the fund is considering whether to add it and the Canadian dollar to its list of official reserve currencies.

Today, only the US dollar, euro, pound, yen and Swiss Franc are classified as official reserve currencies – those held in large quantities by foreign governments. Full story.

1.09pm: ANZ says a rate cut could be coming in December, but it's not as sure about that as rivals HSBC and UBS. ANZ economists Justin Fabo and Ivan Colhoun write:

We maintain our 25bp rate cut forecast for December. Market pricing, however, implies slightly less than a 60% chance of a 25bp rate cut in December, suggesting a fair degree of uncertainty around this outcome.

Today’s board minutes provided more forward guidance than the recent 69 page official statement by including one sentence suggesting that ‘members considered that further easing may be appropriate in the period ahead’.

We expect another cut to the cash rate, probably before Christmas.

12.57pm: UBS appears to be more certain about where interest rates are headed in December. UBS economists Scott Haslem and George Tharenou say:

We think today’s minutes appear to be an explicit ‘signal’ that the odds now favour expecting that the RBA will cut the cash rate by 25bp at their December meeting to 3.00%.

12.52pm: Commonwealth Bank's Michael Workman has also taken a look at the RBA minutes and looks ahead to what it means for the December meeting. In a email note, he writes:

We see next week’s Q3 Capital Expenditure, or business investment, data as a major influence on whether there is a December rate cut.

... [T]he question now remains not if but when the RBA decides to cut interest rates again. On the current economic backdrop, there is around a 50% chance of a December rate cut. Any deterioration in the international environment will be a catalyst for a cut.

If the cash rate remains unchanged in December, then we expect that subdued Q4 inflation data (released in January 2013) will allow the RBA to cut the cash rate to 3% in February 2013.

12.47pm: CommSec's Craig James has had a look at RBA minutes and makes the following observations:

The decision to keep rate on hold earlier this month seems to be more finely balanced than previously thought.

It is important to note that while the likelihood of a further rate cut has increased in a broader sense, the Reserve Bank is still in a holding pattern.

Interestingly the Reserve Bank was a little bit more upbeat about the improvements that have taken place on the global front. In particular members noted that the Chinese economy “may have stabilised”, while the European sovereign debt issues had improved.

As such CommSec expects the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates by a further quarter of one per cent in the next couple of months.

12.43pm: More from Glenda Kwek at the Lynas AGM. Following the conclusion of the AGM just before noon, questions from the floor again mostly centred around Lynas' plant in Kuantan, Malaysia.

Two shareholders who requested a brief from Tan Butteet, the head of the Malaysian environmental group that has mounted legal challengers against Lynas, were turned down by Mr Curtis, saying they could speak to the campaigners outside the room.

Another shareholder, who described himself as a former lawyer, said he was "concerned with the vexatious litigations in Malaysia" and asked if there were legal options for Lynas to seek damages against the plantiff.

In response to a further question on more information about the political and environmental issues in Kuantan, board member and nuclear physicist Ziggy Switkowski said his "judgment is that it is at the political end".

"It is as best as I can tell, a first-rate plan," he said of the processing plant.

12.28pm: Virgin Australia expects to improve its underlying financial performance in the 2012-13 financial year, but uncertain economic conditions have stopped it from providing more detail.

Chief executive John Borghetti says the company’s guidance for the year to June 30, 2013, has not changed since the beginning of the year.

‘‘We maintain the same guidance we provided at our financial results in August of eight to nine per cent domestic capacity growth in the first half of the 2013 financial year,’’ he told the airline’s annual general meeting in Brisbane.

Virgin shares are down 0.5 per cent down.

12.25pm: Economy-wide spending contracted in October following an outsized gain in September.

According to the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI), spending eased by 1.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in October after lifting by a revised 3.5 per cent in September – the biggest monthly gain in over four years. The less volatile trend estimate of spending was largely flat for the fifth straight month in October.

It is clear that at present the economy is treading water, says CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian:

Following an outsized gain in business sales in September, consumers have once again returned to conservative habits, with economy-wide spending easing by 1.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in October.

Over the past six months, we have seen fluctuating peaks and troughs in consumer spending. The good news is that spending is higher than a year ago across all states and territories, however it is improving from a low base.

12.17pm: Shares are hanging onto gains, supported by miners and broad optimism over encouraging housing data and fiscal negotiations in the United States, but investors are reluctant to extend buying ahead of a US holiday.

"Sustaining the momentum over the week is going to be difficult because of the holiday in the US," says Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets:

They (investors) see no need to jump in right now, given that they are unlikely to see further leads until next week.

There is not a single investment theme playing in the market.

The companies that have been bought today are bought on their individual merits.

12.12pm: Tinkler Group says the liquidation of its Mulsanne Resources over a failed $28.4 million debt to Blackwood will not affect its other companies.

The NSW Supreme Court today ordered that Mulsanne Resources be wound up and liquidators appointed after its owner, mining magnate Nathan Tinkler, failed to settle the debt.

A spokesman for Tinkler Group said the liquidation would not affect its other companies which include Hunter Ports, International Ports and Logistics, Hunter Sports Group and Patinack Farm.

‘‘The liquidation of Mulsanne Resources does not affect any other part of the Tinkler Group,’’ he said.

11.47am: The dovish undertones in the RBA minutes, hinting at further easing, pressured the dollar slightly, but the currency has come back a bit and is now trading at $US1.0412, close to where it was before the minutes were published.

11.42am: Here are some quotes from the RBA minutes of its latest rate setting meeting early November, when it left the cash rate on hold, surprising a majority of economists who had tipped another cut. It was apparently a line-ball call:

Members considered that further easing may be appropriate in the period ahead.

While a gradual recovery in both dwelling and other business investment was anticipated, assisted in part by the lower level of interest rates, there was also uncertainty about the timing and magnitude of this pick-up.

There were tentative indications that housing activity may be reaching a turning point.

The effects of the earlier reductions in the cash rate were, meanwhile, continuing to work their way through the economy, and members expected that further effects of these changes were yet to be observed.

11.40am: Yesterday we noted that shares in the world's most valuable company, Apple, had slumped 25 per cent since their peak in September - overnight the stock rebounded 7 per cent, with one analyst calling the two-month sell-off "insane".

After hitting an all-time of $US705.10 on the day the company launched the iPhone 5, Apple’s stock slumped into correction, and then into bear territory.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White, who sees ‘‘insanity’’ in the stock plunge, believes that the sell-off over the past eight weeks is overdone. He cites new ‘‘blockbuster’’ products for the holiday season - including the iPad Mini - as reasons for buying the stock.

Some investors seem to think the same, driving Apple stock up $US38.05, or 7.2 per cent, to close at $US565.73 on Monday.

Just as worries over potential hikes in the capital gains tax had exasperated the slump, reports that Washington is inching closer to some kind of budget deal supported the comeback.

11.33am: Some more on the importance of the IMF elevating the dollar to official reserve currency status:

11.31am: The dollar has slipped slightly after the release of the RBA's minutes, from $US1.0425 to $US1.0405.

11.26am: The global head of interest rates strategy at Westpac, Russell Jones, says the IMF’s move (see previous post) is recognition of the growing importance of the dollar for global investors.

‘‘Over recent years, the Australian and Canadian economies have proved more stable and their financial sectors more robust, than the more traditional safe havens of the US, the eurozone, Japan, the UK and Switzerland,’’ Jones says.

The move is also a ‘‘stamp of approval’’ for how these economies have been managed, and the data will provide more transparency on official holdings of the dollar, he says.

Up to 23 central banks from around the globe have included Australian dollar assets in their foreign exchange reserves. It’s estimated these official holdings of the dollar are worth about $60 billion, but clear figures are not available.

11.25am: The Australian dollar looks set to be classified as an official reserve currency by the International Monetary Fund, in a sign of the dollar’s rising importance on global money markets.

With heavy buying by foreign central banks thought to have supported the Aussie dollar in recent months, the fund is considering whether to add it and the Canadian dollar to its list of official reserve currencies. Today, only the US dollar, euro, pound, yen and Swiss Franc are classified as official reserve currencies - those held in large quantities by foreign governments.

But buried in a statistical report published late last week, the fund said it was considering publishing data on official reserve holdings of Australian and Canadian dollars because of the growing foreign interest in these currencies.

Some frustrated shareholders have expressed their anger at Lynas's share price, which remains near two-year lows, saying they would not support the remuneration report of the company.

One shareholder said management had performed poorly during a turbulent year for the company and that it was "absolutely disheartening".

"[They should] show some degree of sharing the pain of the shareholders by not participating in the bonus scheme," the shareholder said.

But other shareholders spoke out in defence of the board, arguing that such comments did not address the resolution at hand.

11.13am: Here's a pic of the welcoming party waiting for investors and executives outside the Lynas AGM:

11.11am: Quick reminder that the RBA releases the minutes of its November meeting at 11.30am.

11.07am: The big banks are mixed:

CBA is 0.64% lower to $57.78

ANZ is 0.59% lower to $23.51

NAB is 0.24% higher to $23.41

Westpac is 0.2% higher to $24.45

11.03am: The big miners are enjoying the return to confidence on the global markets:

BHP is 1.05% higher to $33.56

Rio is 1.85% higher to $57.76

Fortescue is 2.73% higher to $3.95

10.58am: More from Glenda Kwek at the Lynas AGM:

Lynas executive chairman Nicholas Curtis defended the company against the Malaysian challenges, saying it has met all environmental requirements.

"The opposition is political, not environmental."

10.54am: Lonsec private client adviser Michael Heffernan said the Australian market had been guided by a positive night on overseas markets.

‘‘Looking at overseas markets last night, it was like a sea of green everywhere you looked,’’ Mr Heffernan said.‘‘It was a great night last night, largely due to what I call the incredibly shrinking fiscal cliff.

‘‘There’s clear signs it is well on the way to being resolved and that’s a real fuel injection for the market.’’

About 30 environmental campaigners protested outside the Sofitel Wentworth Hotel where Lynas is holding its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday morning.

One protester said 19 campaigners travelled from Malaysia to take part in the demonstrations, chanting slogans such as "we don't want your toxic waste" and "stop Lynas, save Malaysia".

10.42am: Here are some of the major sliders on the ASX200:

Cardno: -11.54%

Energy World Corp: -5%

Boart Longyear: -4.29%

Ten: -1.72%

Orica: -1.62%

10.38am: Now for the big gainers on the ASX200 in early trade:

Paladin: +7.23%

Coalspur: +5.59%

Iluka: +5.46%

Lynas: +4.72%

Linc: +4.35%

10.35am: Blackwood shares have slumped 22 per cent, or 4 cents, to 14 cents after the liquidation of Nathan Tinkler's Mulsanne Resources was announced this morning. Mulsanne had failed to come up with $28.4 million it owed Blackwood for a 34 per cent stake Tinkler's company took in the coal junior.

10.26am: Newcrest has put out a statement in response to a BusinessDay article (you can read it here) on further legal action against the gold miner by a explorer Gold and Copper Resources Pty Limited (GCR).

With the claim, GCR has now brought five separate legal actions against Newcrest over the miner's Cadia Valley tenure and activities.

The latest GCR claim seeks to challenge the validity of two of the mining leases held by Newcrest for its Cadia Valley operations in NSW, which were granted in October 2000 and March 2001 respectively.

Newcrest again said it believes that this latest court action is without merit and added it ‘‘will be vigorously defending the action and considers that, as with the other four actions, the matter is not material to Newcrest and will not adversely impact operations at Cadia Valley.’’

Newcrest shares are up about 1 per cent this morning.

10.20am: Looking at how the various sub indices on the ASX200 are travelling:

Materials: +1.35%

Health: +1.19%

Energy: +0.85%

Consumer disc.: +0.60%

Consumer staples: -0.17%

Telecoms: -0.13%

Utilities: -0.9%

10.14am: The Australian share market has opened half a per cent higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index is up 22.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 4,384.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index is up 22.4 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 4,405.0.

On the ASX 24, the December share price index futures contract was up 15 points at 4,394, with 8,233 contracts traded.

10.11am: Here’s another view on what drove offshore markets share higher overnight. Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, says while there was not much news to trigger the rally, ‘‘there are a lot of nervous investors who are underweight equities and other risk assets’’.

Investors in this situation are very conscious of the positive event risk represented by a good outcome on the fiscal situation and the Greek government being successfully funded. In this situation, rising prices themselves attract investors nervous about missing out on a major rally.

10.07am: Early take - shares up 0.4 per cent as markets open.

10.04am: Martin Crabb, head of research at Shaw Stockbroking, said the Australian market was starting to factor in fears about the fiscal cliff, and could lift today on positive news such as US housing price rises.

“I think our market is oversold in the short term, so we should see a bit of a bounce today,” he said.

“NAB could put on a couple of bucks pretty easily. In the mining space, there are a few stocks that have been knocked around. BHP could have a reasonable bounce.”

Mr Crabb said the fiscal fears were slightly oversold, but that profit downgrades could push the market down during the week.

“We don’t go too many weeks without a company coming out and saying things are really tough. Boart Longyear did it yesterday. QBE did it last week,” he said.

“It’s a bit like a minefield. You know you might get blown up at some point.”

10.01am: More on Tinkler. Here's Paddy Manning again:

Possibility of an insolvent trading finding against Tinkler if Mulsanne discovered to have no assets

9.46am: In offshore news this morning, Moody's Investors Service downgraded France's sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 from triple-A, the agency said, citing the country's uncertain fiscal outlook as a result of "deteriorating economic prospects."

Moody's said it is maintaining a negative outlook on the country due to structural challenges and a "sustained loss of competitiveness" in the country.

Standard & Poor's has a AA+ rating on France, which it downgraded by one notch in January from AAA.

9.44am: A short list of analyst rating changes to start the day:

Fletcher Building raised to 'buy' at Deutsche Bank

NAB raised to 'buy' at Deutsche Bank

Arrium raised to 'hold' at Deutsche Bank

Boart Longyear cut to 'underperform' at CIMB

9.40am: Here's the data and economics news we're expecting today:

Minutes of RBA board meeting of November 6, when rates were left on hold

Australian Bureau of Statistics international merchandise imports for October

Commonwealth Bank business sales indicator

9.38am: The big miners could be in for a strong start after posting strong gains in overnight trade. On Wall Street, BHP added 2.04 per cent and Rio was 1.74 per cent higher, while in London trade BHP rose by 3.7 per cent and Rio Tinto added 3.1 per cent.

9.36am: Local stocks are set for a strong open after offshore markets breathed a collective sigh of relief over the positive statements from leaders about the US fiscal cliff negotiations.

US sharemarkets rose, with the S&P500 adding close to 2 per cent for its biggest one-day gain in two months, and the Dow added 1.5 per cent. European shares rallied sharply, posting their biggest daily gain in 10 weeks.

For a comprehensive look at this morning’s business news, check today’s need2know. Here are this morning’s key market links:

The SPI was up 9 points at 4408

The $A was trading at $US1.0404

In late trading in the US, the S&P500 added 1.74% to 1383.48

In Europe, the FTSE100 added 2.36% to 5737.66

China iron ore was flat at $US122.80 a metric tonne

Gold 1.04% to $US1731.55 an ounce

WTI crude oil was up $US2.27 to $US89.19 a barrel

RJ/CRB commodities index was at 293.98

9.34am: Good morning all. Welcome to the Markets Live blog for Tuesday.

Contributors: Thomas Hunter, Jens Meyer, Max Mason

This blog is not intended as investment advice

BusinessDay with agencies

20 comments

Like I said yesterday. Speculative optimism will let the market up and then those false hopes will come dashed Thur/Fri. We just need some more affirmative news from the M-E to throw down some shorts!!!

Commenter

Liberator

Location

SEQLD

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 11:45AM

Does this mean you won't be predicting until Friday morning, then? :-)

Commenter

Snidery Mark

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 12:52PM

Poor Tinkles, what's next for this man? Selective memory? Trip to Majorca?Will the Jets be able to keep Emile Heskey?

Commenter

Snidery Mark

Location

Port Stephens

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 11:47AM

Looks like the resources boom is over and spotting once were moguls will be the new sport. What will that do to house prices?

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 2:10PM

Probably the same thing the GFC did - very little.

Commenter

No Vision

Location

Sydney

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 4:18PM

THE RESOURCES BOOM IS OVER??? What's Gina gonna tell the kids?

As you'd know, Allan, over here (hear) on the East Coast of the continent, property relies upon two major factors:1. Whether your postcode looks anything like Point Piper, Kirra-pokin-billi or Toorak - price is inflated. If your postcode resembles that of Kikatinalong or Burntabugri - then price is understated.2. Secondly and foremostly, if your property's been on telly, it is worth 15 million times more than anyone's likely to pay for it.

However, on the West Coast property prices are based upon two factors yet with subtle differences::1. If it's on the GPS, it's expensive - too expensive. If not, good luck - you will die out there.2. If Hawkey or Costello haven't already sold it to Saudis, if you can find the place, if it's anywhere near a mine - price will be extortionate.

Anyway, we have three hours heads-up on the WAzzers, plenty of time to reconsider, eh?

Commenter

Snidery Mark

Location

Port Stephens

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 4:25PM

There you go. DOW up 200 points and us ??????. In the last three weeks our market on 2 occassions went down in points not percentage terms more than the Dow. This should be a 50 point day. The ASX 200 sux once more. This comment is for investors.

Commenter

Jonaze

Location

Sydney

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 11:51AM

Every single comment you make expresses disbelief that the ASX doesn't mirror the DOW.

Perhaps you should stop expecting it to. You might find some peace then.

Maybe you, as an investor, could explain the point you are endlessly trying to make.

Commenter

cranberry

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 1:09PM

I reckon the only reason we've gone up today is RBA hopium for a "possible" future rate cut.

Whoopeeeeeee !!!!!!!

Commenter

4400

Location

The New Black

Date and time

November 20, 2012, 1:44PM

HANDS OFF GST>.Gutless politicians can't think of ways to get out of the crap they have got us into so will they tax the HAVES. No lets belt the HAVE_NOTS with an increase in the GST. The HAVES don't any morethan the HAVE-NOTS and all they want is to pay less tax even though the HAVES have so many loop holes supplied by the government that the % they pay is nowhere near what they morally owe.